And I figure we'll have to jump the Eagles to get Cooper as they're desperate for interior OL help as well

Seems pretty realistic to me. And as little a fan as I am of Landry Jones, getting him in the 3rd would be a good deal to me. He does have all the physical tools you want in a QB, so hopefully he'd be able to grow in the mental/analytical aspect of the position sitting behind Romo for a year._________________

Obviously, 6-10 is not where we want to be. Let's be real here, this is not a team that is one player away from being a playoff contender. We have a lot of holes to fill. Remember, this is a team that has not been above .500 since 2009. I believe that you win in the trenches, and that is what our offseason will try to accomplish. Priority number one is keeping Tony Romo on his feet. Priority number two is to keep opposing quarterbacks on the ground. We are looking to build through the draft, and supplement through free agency. We have one splash in mind, but everything else will be about role players.

I told everyone that we would be making one splash, and here it is. I give the past front office credit for signing Brandon Carr and drafting Morris Claiborne. The secondary is heading in the right direction, but there was still one missing piece to the puzzle. We love Barry Church here, but we are worried that he will not be up to form because of his achilles. He will get a fair chance to start, but we needed to add a playmaker in the secondary. It is unacceptable when we can barely force any turnovers.

CB Pat Lee signed to a two year deal worth $1.5M

Quote:

Losing Mike to free agency obviously hurts, and it makes us fairly thin at corner. We aren't bringing in Lee asking him to set the world on fire, but we believe that he can suffice as a dime corner. Additionally, he is an above average player on special teams, and we really need to improve there. We kept our ace in Danny McCray, but Lee will just help shore things up. He will compete for the fourth cornerback spot.

WR/KR Josh Cribbs signed to a three year deal worth $7M

Quote:

Cribbs is well known as one of the best return men in the NFL. Anytime he touches the ball, he is a threat to go for six. I firmly believe that special teams changes the game. Field position is extremely underrated in today's day and age of football. One of our goals was to bring in an electric return man not named Dez Bryant. Now, Dez can focus solely on his duties as a wide receiver.

The Draft

The Dallas Cowboys will pick 9th overall.

The Dallas Cowboys have traded the 9th overall pick (1350 points) to the Buffalo Bills for the 15th and 47th overall picks (1480 points).

Quote:

We are very confident that one of the two players we are targeting will be there at 15. It is too soon to take one of those guys top 10, and Buffalo came calling asking to move up for Tyler Wilson. We considered declining the trade and drafting Wilson ourselves, but we felt it was better to acquire more draft picks and go by our big board.

Warmack was sixth overall on our board, and we had him graded right around where we had David DeCastro last year. Warmack is a great fit for our blocking scheme, as he is a very underrated athlete. Despite his size, he can move very well and get to the second level, where he delivers punishing blocks. On top of that, Coach Callahan was threatening to smack me upside the head if I passed on a talent like Warmack. We are looking to slot him in either at LG or RG to start off the season.

We are very fortunate that Nix declared early, making the nose tackle class awfully deep. John Jenkins went a couple picks before us, but we are very happy to "settle" for Nix. He is very disruptive, and will split time immediately at NT with Josh Brent. We can finally kick Ratliff to the outside, where he will draw more one-on-one match ups and be more effective. We feel that Nix has one of the highest ceilings in the draft, and are ecstatic to have landed him.

Last year, Peter Konz was slated to go near the end of the first round. He ended up going 55th overall to the Atlanta Falcons. The truth behind interior linemen is that they are severely undervalued on draft day. We were a little surprised that Jones is available, and we almost took him over Louis Nix. We are excited to keep the duo of Jones and Warmack together. It will help the overall line gel together much more quickly.

Losing Spencer to free agency hurt, but we couldn't afford to give him top five money like he was demanding. Thomas gives us that pass rushing threat that we lacked when Spencer was in the lineup. He is a smart player with a high floor. Some people are questioning how high his ceiling is, but we don't really care to be honest with you. He does everything well, and will be a threat opposite Ware. We expect Thomas to compete for a starting job with Kyle Wilber.

A lot of people want to penalize Dobson for not playing in one of the top football conferences. That is fair, but we see a great receiver in Dobson. He has a big 6'2, 209 pound frame. He has big, strong hands and has the "my ball" mentality that we want in receivers. We have a lot of smaller guys like Danny Coale, Cole Beasley, and Dwayne Harris, so we wanted to get a bigger, possession receiver.

Hyde is a big, tough corner who will compete for our 5th cornerback spot. He could very well end up being a quality slot cornerback like Scandrick currently is for us. We like what we have seen out of Hyde at Iowa, and think he would be a decent fit here in Dallas as well. Hyde will also likely see special teams time as well.

Jackson will have the opportunity to compete for a swing tackle spot. We want to carry 10 offensive linemen this year, so he will compete with other training camp fodder for a job. We think that Jackson has a high ceiling, and he is a massive man to boot (6'5, 332 pounds). We are hoping that he can develop into a quality backup.

Jordan Rodgers may not be on the same level as his brother, Aaron, but he is a great quarterback in his own right. It is about time that we give a younger guy a shot to take over in a few years for Romo. He has a very similar play style to Romo, which we like a lot. He is the perfect project player for us to groom going forward.

Not bad at all. Love the Oline. The secondary got better, but the defense got worse over all. The OLB in a 3-4 scheme is way too important.

I agree, that for the first year, the defense would probably be worse. But I am a huge Thomas fan

ill have to check him out then..

I would recommend it.

I liked him a lot last year, and was a little disappointed he didn't declare. I thought he would have been an early 2nd rounder had he declared this year, but with guys like Dion Jordan and Damontre Moore making big rises, I can see him slipping_________________

In my mock, we miss the playoffs at 9-7, our 2 losses coming from the Iggles and Steelers. (I think we'll somehow make the playoffs, but im being a realist)

Notable Resigned:
Anthony Spencer, 5 years, $32.5 million
We lose Jenkins and Jones

Notable Free Agent Signings:

OG Andy Levitre, 4 years, $17 million
Our big signing. Really not much to pick from this year in FA. The troubled Bills are forced to take their money elsewhere, and we are lucky enough to pick Levitre up off the rebound.

CB Quentin Jammer, 2 years
Jammer is pretty old, but he can play as our 4th corner for a while.

Round 1 (26): Barret Jones, OC
After signing Levitre to play RG, we go and draft Jones to play center. Jerruh figures we're deep enough in the first round to justify an O-Line pick. We now have a much improved O-Line, which IMO is our biggest need.

Round 2: Matt Elam, S
This is really a stumping position for me. I decided to go safety because it could be improved on our team. Elam is a very good prospect and can step in or at the very least make some excellent competition/rotation.

Round 3: Kwame Geathers, NT
This mammoth of a person (355 lbs) is the true NT a 3-4 defense needs. He'll rotate in and out with Hatcher/Lissemore. He'll create lots of competition for who plays the majority of the snaps.

Round 3 (49ers): Rex Burkhead, RB
A high character, smart player that can help fill the hole Felix left. Very good in short yardage situations.

Round 4: Zac Dysert, QB
We get a project to eventually replace Romo. He already has plenty of talent and experience to work with.

Round 5: Nigel Malone, CB
Can compete for the 5th corner spot

Round 6: Tanner Hawkinson, OT
We find good value with our last pick. Hawkinson has the extremely ideal size for an OT (IMO). He can at least fight for a spot and push some people into the right places.

Our squad is much improved. Ratliff goes to what seems like his natural fit at DE. Burnadeau gets bumped back in place of Levitre, and Costa goes to be replaced by Jones. Much improved line. Our secondary gets better still by adding Elam. We get a true nose tackle that will keep QBs and RBs up at night.

Not bad Shine, not bad. I think Levitre will get a contract similar to the deal that Ben Grubbs signed with the Saints (5 years, $36M). Also, I think Burkhead will go much later than round 3. But I am a big fan of Burkhead, and think that the Plano connection is pretty cool. He was a legend in high school_________________

Not bad Shine, not bad. I think Levitre will get a contract similar to the deal that Ben Grubbs signed with the Saints (5 years, $36M). Also, I think Burkhead will go much later than round 3. But I am a big fan of Burkhead, and think that the Plano connection is pretty cool. He was a legend in high school

Dang Levitre's worth THAT much? Didn't know he was that good. Perhaps all the more reason to sign him. We need a few good new starters or one really good new starter on that mess of a line. I like Burkhead a lot too! There were probably better back projected nearer I could have put. but I tend to look at mocks more from a position picked standpoint so don't be surprised if I over or underrate some players. Thanks for the ffedback!